


Come Up Snake Eyes

by VoteForNuke



Series: 2020 MGS Summer Games [3]
Category: Metal Gear, Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Animal Death, M/M, inspired by rdr2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26021074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoteForNuke/pseuds/VoteForNuke
Summary: The times are changing, the age of the outlaw is coming to a close.The new clears out the old.
Relationships: Big Boss/Ocelot (Metal Gear)
Series: 2020 MGS Summer Games [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1884223
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13
Collections: Metal Gear Solid - Summer Games -2020





	Come Up Snake Eyes

“He has us pinned.” 

“The hell he does.” Adam spun his half-loaded revolver. “Three shots is two more than I need to take out a banty rooster like him.” 

The smile that crossed John’s lips was heavy, but humored. He rested his head back against the warped wood of the shed they had ducked into, single eye drifting closed for a moment. David had chased them for miles,across mountain and rivers, cutting down his best men like weeds of the field. The Shootist, the Running Man––-even his son, Gray Fox. 

John swallowed the ache in his throat. No use feeling sorry for it. He raised that boy to murder, it was only a question of when, not if, his own blood would be spilled. 

“Boss.” 

John lifted a brow, cracking his eye just enough to see through his lashes. Adam’s face was firm, brows drawn down and withered lines gathered around his frown, yet his eyes betrayed him. His gaze was anxious, eyes flicking this way and that across his boss’ face. It was hard to believe this was the same kid that chased him all around the Confederate States, hell bent on a duel while bitter war raged around them. He’d been on his heels ever since they first met eyes; first taking his eye, then his heart. 

“Boss, what’s the next move?” 

The steady rhythm of his own pulse made John feel a little sick. It matched the pounding of his horse’s hooves, the one David had shot out from under him. A demon straight out of hell. He was Miller’s, alright. That vicious streak was as clear as a cattle brand. 

“Well, we’re not going to shoot our way out of here.” John sat himself up a little straighter. “I’ll go out and meet him, you slip out the back and take off across the mountains.” 

“I ain’t goin’ nowhere.” Adam growled, and John leveled his gaze at him. 

“You’re disobeying an order?” John asked. 

“Cut the shit,” he hissed. “There’s no more rank to pull, John. This isn’t a battle, it’s fightin’ tooth and claw to get out with our skins. You step out there and he’s gonna take the top of your skull off.”

John hummed. There was a strange weight in his chest, right next to the ache of exhaustion. A weight that kept him there on the dusty floor, made his limbs heavy and useless. He thought of his hunter. David. A sharp young man despite those rookie eyes and mild manners. John laughed to himself. They might be rookie eyes, but they were sharp. Sharp enough to nail his horse right between the eyes when he cut him off at the pass. Nearly nailed John, too. He had to admire him for that. Even long in the tooth, John was a wolf in his element. He had been caught many times, but never kept. The legend of the Big Boss carried across these once wild lands, gracing every mind with fantastic awe. Just like a tall tale’d wolf, people had taken to hunting him, figuring the only way to close the age of the outlaw was with his neck in a noose. 

There had been a few people John expected to take up the challenge, David never being one of them. His brother, sure. Eli was a wild cuss, half-mad with some kind of hunger he intended to quench with blood. He’d sworn his victory over John many times, and each time John just laughed. Eli had all the ambition, and not near enough skill to take down anyone of reputation. Not yet, anyways. 

David had matured past his twin, to no surprise. Even as just a rough kid, he showed promise. He was a gifted pickpocket, light on his feet and marvelously patient for his age. Unlike his brother, he never made any trouble. He’d been a good addition to the gang for those six or so years, and John could say he was almost sad when David took off for Dallas.

“John!” Adam snapped. John looked to him, steady eye and straight mouth. Adam’s shoulders sagged, the realization that John had made up his mind setting in. “You’re not gonna get out of this one, Boss. Not on your own. You came up snake eyes.” 

“We all do, eventually.” John sighed, wondering how long the kid was going to wait for them. Probably not much longer. He might be creeping up to the shed right now, ready to unload his carbine on the thin shed wall. “I just keep thinkin’ on how this was all so perfect. Too perfect. David’s following in my steps. Just as I killer her––-”

“Don’t you start on that.” Adam narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you even dare. You been thinkin’ on  _ her  _ since first snow.” 

All the white reminded him of that field of lilies. The field that had baptized him in the blood of his mentor and rebirthed him a man without a nation, without laws.

“She taught me something very important, Adam.” John’s voice was sober as he spoke. Sober and strong, long thought over words finally finding their way to the air. “She taught me the times change, and people can’t always be a part of that. The new make room for themselves. It’s nature. The age of the outlaw died with the west.” 

Adam’s face hardened, drawing in a breath like he was about to argue. Instead, after a moment’s hesitation, he reached across him to tuck his revolver in John’s holster. Their noses brushed in a gesture that felt strangely more intimate than any kiss they shared in the still night. John got to his feet, the pain from his earlier tumblr biting deep in his hip socket. 

“Alright,” John called. “I’m coming out.” 

There was a beat of silence before David called back, somewhere unnervingly close. “Surrendering?”

“Surrendering.” John could feel Adam shift anxiously behind him. He hoped he followed orders and took off for the mountain. He knew it was hypocritical to talk of changing times and the old being pushed out, then hope that Adam went on to witness the new age in all its glory. Love could do that to a man, render him senseless and irrational. 

John waited in silence until he heard gravel crunching under boots, the steps familiarly careful and measured. 

“Alright,” David called, followed by a dim click of gun metal. “Come on out. Hands up where I can see them.” 

Following orders for the first time in three decades, John lifted his hands high in the air as he toed the door open with his boot. Adam was tucked behind the wood stack, safely hidden and hopefully forgotten by David. Probably not. John had to make some time for him, pay back for all the times Adam had risked his own neck for him. 

They mirrored each other’s muted surprise when the door revealed them. Through the chase, John had managed to keep a good distance, never able to make out David’s face in certainty. Looking at David was gazing into the past. 

He really had come up snake eyes. 

John hadn’t noticed that his hands were lowering, not until David’s limp surprise was replaced by a shouldered rifle. 

“Keep your hands up.” He barked. “I’m not messing around. I’ll get paid just as much if I bring you in dead.”

That easy smile found its way to John’s lips once more. Something of pride bloomed in his chest, warming the strange weight that sat there. A thought found its way into his brain the same way a worm found its way into an apple. A thought of Eva. He hadn’t seen her in...well, however old David was. The last he had heard of her was a letter that Miller delivered. He remembered how it smelled of her perfume, the familiar lacy delicateness of her writing begging so boldly. 

_ I know you don’t think of them as your own, but please think of them as mine. Please, if you ever loved or care for me, you’ll watch over my sons.  _

A week later, he picked the boys up from the Crosshock Station. They called him ‘Boss’ like everyone else, and he made them earn their keep. He wondered if Eva ever found her way back to him, if she ever told him. Eli always carried the suspicion, voicing it loudly a few times, but John never acknowledged him.

“Easy, son––-” the word slipped out, and David reacted hard. 

“I’m not your son.” He spat. “Not anymore. I might have been a ‘son of Big Boss’ when I was a kid, but I’m too wise for that now.” 

Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was the strange weight in John’s chest finally taking its toll, but he laughed. A loud, genuine laugh. David narrowed his eyes at him, fixing his grip on the carbine. 

“I’m sorry.” John shook his head, feeling his knees start to grow numb. “It’s not that easy for you.” 

David’s silence was strangely oppressive. Yet, John could swear the cogs in his brain whirling. Those vicious blue eyes grew searching. Searching John for a sign of deception, of joke. When the silence stretched on, David pressed the rifle more firmly to his shoulder. 

“What are you trying to say?” 

“That there’s a reason your mother trusted you and Eli to a rogue man you never once met.” John’s voice was passive and simple, like it was so obvious. 

“You’re lying.” David took a step closer. “Miller warned me about your lying. Put your hands out, I’m taking you in.” 

With a defeated shrug, John offered his wrists. Smart kid. Once more, that strange sense of pride welled up in his chest. David lowered the carbine to his hip, watching him for a moment longer before he drew the heavy shackles from his belt. He pinned the carbine under an elbow as he cuffed the first hand. 

Was he doing this kid justice? 

Was he giving him a real victory by just surrendering? Was he doing himself justice? David would probably make the history books, if not the papers for bringing in the Big Boss. It would be as good as a baseless rumor if John just limped into prison like a whipped dog. 

As quick as a thought, John snatched the carbine and a shot rang out. 

The surprise that lit up David’s face made him feel dizzy with regret. He didn’t think he had––- 

He looked down to the engraved revolver in David’s hand. Another laugh, this time softer but not any less genuine. 

“Kept those fast hands.” John congratulated before his knees buckled. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
